Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Essay

Life and death are opposing forces of nature that one can not escape. In the poem, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, the poet uses natures forces to represent procreation, which is the giving of life and destruction, which is the dealing of death. The poet expresses through out the poem how these two forces, life and death are interconnected.

In the beginning of the story, King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table were celebrating the New Year, until the Green Knight, sent by Morgan Le Fay, Arthurs sister, rode into his court carrying a holly bush and an axe. The holly bush is an ever green, meaning it never dies as the seasons change. Also, it is a pagan symbol used by the Christians which represents the renewal of life. The axe is a tool or a weapon which is usually used to kill.

But in one hand he had a bough of holly,

the greenest tree when groves are bare,

and an axe in the othercoloured gold 1

The Green Knight was described as green from head to toe, fit and handsome, and he wore luxurious green and gold clothes with no armor.

They all gazed and gazed upon this green stranger,

because everyone wondered what it could mean

that a rider and horse might be such a colour-

green as grass, and greener it seemed

than green enamel glowing bright against gold.2

In addition:

But he was wearing neither helmet nor mail coat,

nor any breastplate or armour at all 3

The color green is a representation a natural life, growth, and renewal. The color gold is made of shades of yellow and in this poem it represents the colors of the sun. The combination of these two colors and the fact that the Green Knight is not wearing any armor clearly indicates that he is the representation of nature and that he comes in peace. As the Green Knight said:

But be reassured by this branch that I carry

that I come here in peace, not looking for strife.

If I had come in war with violent intentions,

Ive got armour at home and a helmet as well 4

Also, on his clothes were stitched little details such as birds and insects. These little stitched creatures indirectly refer to the birds and the bees, in other words; sex.